abc!@$%

Ron Artest joins the Los Angeles Lakers!!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4303679

Free-agent forward Ron Artest says he's leaving the Houston Rockets to join the Los Angeles Lakers.

In a text message to ESPN.com on Thursday night, Artest wrote: "I am happy to say I am goin' to L.A."

ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard reports that Artest and the Lakers have reached a verbal agreement on what is believed to be a three-year contract worth an estimated $18 million. Wednesday is the first day free agents are permitted to sign new deals.

Artest's decision was first reported by CBSSports.com. The mercurial swingman was initially courted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In his text message, Artest said that he met Thursday with Lakers owner Jerry Buss and had spoken to coach Phil Jackson about the move to Los Angeles, where Artest has been spending his offseasons.

"He wants to win a ring," David Bauman, Artest's agent, told The Associated Press. "He's a winner and a hard worker and he went looking for a team with whom he could find some justification for what he does. He plays his best when he's in that kind of an environment."

Artest's forthcoming arrival coincided with unrestricted free agent Trevor Ariza, who played such a pivotal run in the Lakers' championship run, making a verbal commitment to sign with the Rockets, according to sources close to the process.

Broussard reported Wednesday that, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, Ariza was likely to leave the Lakers because L.A. was reluctant to sign him to a contract starting above the league's $5.6 million mid-level exception, even after Ariza's postseason success.

Ariza met Thursday in Las Vegas with Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

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